


Make the noise and make it clear

by Elri



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Curse Breaking, Curses, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Silence curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-20 06:17:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22077502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elri/pseuds/Elri
Summary: Merlin gets hit with a harmless little curse that starts to turn into more of a problem
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 500





	Make the noise and make it clear

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hold Your Tongue](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16493255) by [Elri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elri/pseuds/Elri). 
  * Inspired by [Silver to Lead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21589423) by [Elri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elri/pseuds/Elri). 



> New year, new decade, new first fic for a fandom
> 
> Title is from The Voice by John Farnham because I had to

Merlin sat picking at his breakfast, running through everything that had happened yesterday for the umpteenth time.

_The witch he’d discovered had been leaving cursed objects around Camelot fled into the woods when he’d pursued her. He hadn’t meant to start pursuing her but he caught her placing a cursed belt in Arthur’s chambers and it just happened. If he’d gone to tell Arthur or Gaius she could have gotten away, that’s what he’d reason later, but in the moment all he was thinking was that she was running and he needed to pursue._

_Once they were far enough into the woods that Merlin felt they wouldn’t be noticed, he tried slowing her down with a magic rope. He'd missed, but he got her attention, and she stopped running to turn and face him._

_“So many secrets, young warlock,” she’d said, half smirking half sneering at him. “How many others are you hiding?”_

_“I’m warning you,” he’d said instead of answering, “if you don’t end these curses, I will stop you.”_

_“The people of Camelot can end the curses themselves. They only have to confront certain...uncomfortable truths in order to do it.”_

_“What are you talking about?”_

_“I’m sure you can figure it out. However, it seems my work here has been cut short, so I’ll just leave you with a little parting gift.” She’d thrown a spell at him and he’d braced for an attack, but it just shot through his chest. Her eyes glowed briefly and she’d laughed, “Oh you poor soul. I have just the curse for you.” A ball of light had started forming in her hand as she spoke. “Rest assured, your magic is safe, I quite like the idea of you running around right under Uther’s nose. Doesn’t mean I can’t still have fun.”_

_They’d fired their spells at the same time. Merlin didn’t see if his hit her before she’d vanished, and hers caught him in the throat and knocked him back. A quick self check hadn’t revealed anything other than a scratchy throat, so he’d picked himself back up and returned to tell Gaius what had happened._

“Merlin? Merlin!”

“Hmm, what?” Merlin looked up, having completely missed Gaius trying to get his attention.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You’re awfully quiet this morning.”

“Yeah I'm fine, just thinking about last night.”

“It is a rather odd scheme she seems to have worked up. More chaotic than malicious. But then I suppose we should count ourselves lucky for that, and for the fact that you were able to stop her before she got to Arthur. Who knows what kind of plans she might have had for him. I’ve gathered the other items that she left as well, we can look them over later and see about putting a final end to these troubles. In the mean time, you’d better finish eating and get to work before Arthur gets impatient.”

Merlin snorted, “Doesn’t give me a lot of time then does it? He has no idea the things I go through for him.”

“And it’s best to keep it that way,” Gaius said, looking at Merlin with a stern eye.

“I know, I know.” Merlin managed to get down some food and headed off to fetch his royal pratness’s breakfast. _There’s a lot of things Arthur doesn’ know_ he thought to himself, immediately shaking it away. _Not now, focus!_

There was one thing he hadn’t told Gaius about last night. After the witch had disappeared, as Merlin was lying on the ground, her voice had echoed in his mind. _Now you will learn the true cost of silence._ She’d already said his magic was safe, so what she was talking about he had no idea. But, with any luck, he and Gaius would be able to figure out how to break the curses themselves before it became a problem. For the moment, he had his usual problem to deal with.

“Good morning -” He calls loudly as he enters, the scratch in his throat returning before he can address Arthur directly. He cleared his throat and continued in, “Brought your breakfast, nice and hot. Better get up before it gets cold, you get very cranky when you have to eat a cold breakfast.”

“I do not get _cranky,"_ Arthur protested, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, he usually didn’t to sleep, and Merlin glanced over him for a quick second before turning back to the table.

“Of course not sire, never cranky, just...a bit grumpy.”

“ _Mer_ lin,” Arthur said with a warning note in his tone.

“It happens to everyone,” Merlin assured him, still with an annoyingly chipper tone, “You should see Gaius first thing in the morning.” He grinned as a pillow narrowly missed his head, “Now you see, that would have hit if you’d had your breakfast. Now are you going to keep being grumpy or-” the rest of the sentence died on his tongue as he turned to see Arthur standing very close behind him and moving closer, still shirtless, with an expression that said he was trying to decide whether to scold Merlin or assign him a punishment chore.

“Say I’m grumpy one more time,” Arthur said as he got right in front of Merlin, practically pinning his servant against the table.

Merlin swallowed, trying to keep his eyes on Arthur’s face. “Well, you’re certainly not very cheerful right now,” he finally managed to say, “here.” He reached behind him and pulled the flower out of the vase on the tray. “Maybe this will help. I picked it myself-” _Just for you_. Once again, the words were stopped by the scratch and he had to fight back a cough. Arthur looked down at the flower, then back at Merlin, and opened his mouth to say something but Merlin tucked the flower behind Arthur’s ear and took advantage of the confusion to slip out from between Arthur and the table. “Better start eating, busy day ahead,” Merlin said as he started pulling out Arthur’s clothes for the day. He didn’t see that behind him, Arthur moved as if to throw the flower, but then stopped and put it next to his plate instead.

Once Arthur was busy for the day, Merlin settled in with some of the books Gaius had found and started researching curses and curse breaking. There wasn’t a lot on mischeivous pranks, more focus had been given to the ones that could do more damage, but he wasn’t giving up yet. The scratch in his throat didn’t seem to be giving up either, starting to make itself more known. When Merlin looked at his throat in a mirror, he noticed for the first time, just under his scarf, runes that looked like they’d been scratched into his skin.

_Well shit._

He heard Gaius coming in and quickly covered them back up. They would figure out how to break the curses and the runes wouldn’t be a problem anymore. They did, however, give him an idea, and a closer look at the objects revealed more runes. He showed Gaius and the two of them set to work on deciphering. Before they were able to get too far, Merlin had to return to his Arthurian duties.

That morning Arthur had been in a meeting with Uther and members of the court, something that tended to put him in a bit of a bad mood as they were all too stubborn to get much done, and today was apparently no exception. He had a stormy look on his face as he and Merlin walked back to his chambers so that he could change for training with the knights. Normally, Merlin would be making jokes or some kind of commentary to try and lighten Arthur’s mood, but the words kept getting stuck. 

When they arrived, Merlin went right in to start pulling out Arthur’s gear, Arthur stood by the door looking at him with a confused expression. “You’re suddenly very quiet today,” He said, “Are you feeling alright?”

Merlin looked over at him, “Yeah, fine.”

“You didn’t get one of those cursed objects did you?” Arthur asked. “It’s been a day or two since any more have shown up.”

Merlin shrugged and went back to what he was doing, “Maybe whoever was doing it got bored.”

“Perhaps. It’s rather odd that anyone was doing it in the first place. Has Gaius made any progress on breaking them?”

“He’s working on it, we got a lead this morning that he’s looking into.”

“And you’re sure you’re alright?”

For the second time that day, Merlin turned and found Arthur a lot closer than he had been. This time his eyes kept Merlin pinned in place, searching his face from under a furrowed brow.

“Fine,” Merlin lied again. “Come on, better get dressed, they’ll be waiting for you.” Arthur gave him another look but didn’t press the issue.

Normally Merlin would stick around to watch the training but this time he returned to help Gaius. He lost track of time and didn’t realize that he’d forgotten to go help Arthur get ready for dinner until it was well past. Gaius exclaimed happily, bringing the book he was looking at over to show Merlin.

“Once you found the runes I remembered something I'd read once about etching a spell into an item. According to this, if we burn the objects it should release everyone from their curses.”

Merlin’s blood ran cold, “That’s great Gaius.”

“I’ll tell the king in the morning and we can make sure we’ve gathered all of the objects and burn them together.” Gaius looked up at Merlin and frowned, “Are you alright Merlin? You’ve gone very pale.”

“Yeah,” he lied, “yeah I just realized I never got back to help-” Arthur’s name stuck again. “I should go make sure he doesn’t need me.” Merlin got up and ran out, barely pausing until he’d made it into Arthur’s chambers and shut the door. Arthur was there, reading some scrolls at his table, and looked up as Merlin leaned back against the door, breathing heavily.

“Merlin?” Arthur got up and walked over to him, “What’s wrong?”

“I-” He pressed his hands against his eyes, trying to stop the tears that were coming out, “I lied,” he admitted, unable to keep it in. “The curses-” He broke off holding back a sob.

“What about them? Did you get hurt?” Arthur was right in front of him now, hands on Merlin’s arms, looking him over for any sign of injury or illness.

“Gaius figured out how to break them,” Merlin said, “You can burn the objects and release the curse.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Silently, Merlin reached up and pulled his scarf off, revealing the runes. “Oh, Merlin.” Arthur gently touched the marks with the tips of his fingers.

“I’m stuck with this,” Merlin said sadly.

“No. We’ll figure this out Merlin.”

“Gaius and I already looked at everything. There’s nothing we can do. I'm going to be cursed for the rest of my life.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Arthur promised. Merlin just choked out a laugh. “Hey, look at me.” Arthur’s hands moved to hold Merlin’s face, tilting it up to meet his eyes, “You’re going to be okay, it’s okay.” His thumbs brushed against the tears. 

Merlin’s hand tangled in Arthur’s shirt and he stared into blue eyes. “I’m scared,” He admitted in a whisper.

“I’ve got you, Merlin.”

And then Arthur’s lips were on Merlin’s. He pressed into the kiss, caught up in a whirlwind of panic and elation and disbelief, before a different kind of panic took over and he pulled away. “Arthur!” He gasped, “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I-”

“Why are you apologizing?” Arthur tilted his head in confusion, hands grabbing Merlin’s as he tried to let go of Arthur’s shirt. “ _I_ kissed _you_.”

“I- you did,” Merlin realized. “And I kissed you back. But you _kissed_ me. Why would you...” He trailed off as Arthur smiled softly at him.

“ _Mer_ lin.”

“...oh... _oh_.”

“Who’s the clotpole now?”

“Still you,” Merlin quipped back automatically. “Arthur I-” He stopped and pulled one hand away to touch his throat, “It’s gone.”

Arthur pulled Merlin’s hand away so he could look and ran his fingers over Merlin’s throat again. “I wonder what broke it.”

“Um...” Merlin looked away, a blush creeping up his face. “In some of the stories about old magic, they say that the best way to break any spell is with a kiss.”

“Just a kiss? That’s it?”

“Well...not just any kiss...” Arthur just stared at Merlin, waiting for him to continue. “It said...true love’s kiss...”

“Is that so?” Arthur leaned in and pressed his head against Merlin’s, smiling, “Merlin, do you love me?”

“You kissed me,” Merlin mumbled, still blushing.

“And you kissed back.” Arthur put his fingers under Merlin’s chin and tilted his head up. He leaned in but stopped just before kissing him. “Do you love me?” He whispered.

“Yes,” Merlin admitted, closing his eyes and sighing softly as the burden of one of his most hidden secrets was finally released.

“Let me hear you say it.”

“I love you, Arthur.”

“Good.” Arthur pressed a kiss to Merlin’s cheek, teasing, “Because I love you too.”

This time, Merlin kissed Arthur.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this curse, check out the other fics I've written with the same premise!  
> [Silver to Lead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21589423)  
> for Man From UNCLE  
> [Hold Your Tongue](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16493255)  
> for Wonder Woman


End file.
